ST. LOUIS (AP) – Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who is also the Democratic nominee running for the U.S. Senate, is calling on the Missouri Legislature to pass a law allowing medical marijuana.

Kander on Thursday came out in support of medical marijuana legislation in a statement through the secretary of state’s office, not his Senate campaign. He was commenting on a judge’s ruling Wednesday that a proposal allowing medical marijuana in Missouri won’t go to voters because the number of petition signatures fell short.

Medical marijuana has not been a major issue in the Senate race.

A spokesman for incumbent Republican Sen. Roy Blunt says Blunt supports states’ rights to determine medical marijuana laws, and has voted to prohibit the federal government from interfering.